What Surprised You the Most About Israel?

Sitting through a four hour flight delay (after having already been in the airport for six hours), I wished more than ever to be back in Israel. It seemed so unreal to be back and casually lounging in the airport terminal, attempting to stay awake. Just before leaving for Ben Gurion Airport, I walked along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and 16 hours later I was dragging my sleepy feet through customs. 

The lovely 10 hours I spent in JFK (a small fraction of the 32 hours it took me to get to Ohio) was used wisely to keep myself awake by making a video!

Although a large portion of this summer in Israel was unexpected, there were other smaller surprises about living in Israel.

Yogurt Soup in a Jerusalem Penthouse

A Weekly Recap

After my first Israeli work week, I am glad to say that I am alive and well, and hydrated in this heat. My week got off to an exciting start! Before I started my internship, I heard a lot about how the Israeli workplace was different from America—that interns are treated like employees and don’t just sit and file papers. It was hard to believe that this was true, since my first few days on the job were a bit slow and monotonous. However, things picked up Tuesday when I attended an idea-a-thon where Tevel b’Tzedek, the non-profit Israeli organization where I intern, wanted to brainstorm ways to raise more funds for their expanding programs. The event was hosted by Charles and Lynn Schusterman. The Schustermans are Oklahoma oil tycoons whose foundation “seeks to ignite the passion and unleash the power in young people to create positive change for themselves, the Jewish community and the broader world.” The foundation is a main funder of Tevel and also supports Birthright, Hillel, B’nai Brith Youth Organization. Lynn Schusterman is listed on Forbes list of billionaires with a net worth of $4.6 billion. So, least to say, Lynn’s three story Jerusalem penthouse was no shabby apartment.

The grand evening began by leaving work early with my boss to help set up. Our arrival at the Schusterman’s was quite climatic, for Micha walked in, sat down in the plush dining room chair, and tumbled backwards onto the floor, almost breaking the pure glass dining room table and barely missing crashing through the glass wall onto one of the four patios. Let’s just say that Micha’s incident convinced me that I should not stand near anything in the house and sample the thirty different cheeses sitting down with my nice china plate resting safely on the table.

I would like to expand on my cheese sampling. Israelis are not shy at all about food. I expected this event to be very “proper” with people eating polite portions. Not only did every Israeli load their plate, but also they went back for seconds and thirds. The food was devoured. They didn’t even bother to use the dainty little serving utensils.

With a happy belly, I had the unique opportunity to simply observe how an NGO might go about raising $300,000. A Schusterman representative, who knew I was the intern, asked me how I was taking notes, but my boss hopped in to explain one of her employees would take notes and I was a participant. I had no responsibilities and was there to learn and participate in the event. So, I brainstormed marketing and fundraising ideas for Tevel alongside billionaires.

 

Later in the week…..

Across the street from my work building is Supersol, one of the Israeli grocery stores. It takes less than three minutes to get there. For lunch I can take a light stroll to pick up fresh fruit, a bagel, and maybe a pesach z’man (best candy bar ever). Today for lunch all I wanted was a handful of grapes. I took a quick break, expecting to be back within 15 minutes to continue working while enjoying my grapes. False. It took me forty-five minutes to return to work because the entire city of Jerusalem decided to buy groceries at 1:00 pm, in preparation for Shabbat. It was absolute madness. First, the word “line” does not exist in the Hebrew dictionary. Israelis didn’t really care that I had been waiting for twenty minutes. They just pushed and shoved.

Despite the absurd amount of people in Supersol, the lines weren’t that long. Why? Israelis brought their carts or packs of soda to the line, deposited it in the line, and left to continue shopping. Waiting in line is quite the experience. A little “zayde” (grandfather) began babbling in Hebrew. From what I understood, he was talking about his family, especially his son. I nodded my head when he nodded, laughed when he laughed, and smiled when he smiled. Although I didn’t catch every word, I am sure he told me about his entire family.

So, my lessons learned from the week are:

• Never shop on Thursdays, unless I don’t mind the pre-Shabbat rush
•  If I do need to shop on Thursday, I should bring a friend, or a pack of soda, to hold my spot in line
• Always eat as much food as I like
• There really is no such thing as an intern in most Israeli workplaces, and I LOVE not having to go on Starbucks (or Aroma) runs =)
  

  The view from the Penthouse

שושנה